Gaming device manufacturers strive to make gaming devices that provide as much enjoyment and excitement as possible. Providing a game in which a player has an opportunity to win multiple awards and potentially large awards or credits are ways to enhance player enjoyment and excitement. Currently, gaming machines or devices provide games, such as slot games, wherein a player has one or more opportunities to obtain a winning symbol combination on mechanical or video reels. In these gaming devices, the player initiates the spin of the reels by making a wager and the positions of the reels after they stop, determines whether a player wins a value and, if so, how much value the player wins. These gaming machines typically have certain features designated for outcomes such as when a player wins a value, when the player advances to a bonus round or when the game terminates. For example, these gaming machines often display the amount of credits earned, flash lights, make sounds or have other features designed to draw attention to the outcome and entertain the player.
One existing gaming device includes a plurality of reels and at least one bonus reel. The bonus reel includes a plurality of modifier symbols on it. In this gaming device, the plurality of reels spin and if a predetermined event occurs, the bonus reel is activated. The modifier symbol generated on the bonus reel is applied to the result from the plurality of reels and an award is provided to the player.
Another existing gaming device includes one or more wild symbols. Wild symbols provide a player with an additional opportunity to obtain winning combinations. In these existing gaming devices, a wild symbol functions to substitute for a plurality of the other generated symbols to result in a winning combination of symbols and an award for the player. For example, in a three reel slot machine, the symbols along a payline on the first, second and third reels may be, respectively, a heart, a heart and a wild symbol. If, in the gaming scheme, the gaming device awards a player for a three heart combination, the wild symbol substitutes for a heart and provides the player with that winning combination.
To increase player enjoyment and excitement, it is desirable to provide players with new features for gaming devices which use reels, where the new features involve one or more selectively activated supplemental reels.